Manufacturers of glass sheets, particularly glass sheets formed into various curved shapes for use as automotive windshields, backlites, and sidelites, are interested in measuring the shape of the formed glass sheet to assess conformity of the actual formed shape to design specification, as well as for evaluating the amount of optical distortion in the formed sheets that might be perceived by a human observer.
Thus, it is desirous for at least the above purposes to develop a system and method for quickly acquiring data corresponding to the surface of a curved glass sheet, particularly as the glass sheet is being transported on a conveyor between or after bending, cooling, or other processing operations, and thereafter developing an accurate three-dimensional mathematical description of the surface of the glass sheet.